Sustainable station-keeping systems for floating wind

Project Information

TAILWIND

Grant agreement ID: 101136195

DOI

10.3030/101136195

EC signature date 20 November 2023

Start date 1 January 2024

End date 31 December 2027

Funded under

• Climate, Energy and Mobility

Total cost

€ 5 586 730,71

EU contribution

€ 5 586 730,71

Coordinated by

NORGES GEOTEKNISKE INSTITUTT AS
Norway

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TAILWIND (Sustainable station-keeping systems for floating wind)

Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2025-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

To meet EU net zero targets requires a six times increase in offshore wind deployment rate, primarily in deep seas where floating offshore wind (FOW) is needed. To achieve this growth requires FOW to be economic, sustainable and supported by a wide supply chain.
TAILWIND is focussed on station-keeping systems of FOW, which comprise mooring lines and anchoring systems. The project will unlock identified opportunities for cost reduction, reduced environmental impact and material use, and also supply chain diversification.
TAILWIND will integrate new experimental evidence, novel technologies and innovative methodologies, across mooring lines and anchors, and will quantify the resulting benefits for the overall floating system design. All innovations will be sustainable-by-design, integrating environmental, societal and economic benefits.
For mooring lines, new synthetic rope technologies will be mechanically and chemically tested to demonstrate their suitability for small-footprint ‘taut’ moorings, validating new response models. For anchoring, geotechnical centrifuge testing and advanced soil element testing will underpin two advances: (i) new response models for the long-term loading particular to FOW, and (ii) the validation of novel anchors types including cluster anchors that are “silently” installed from small vessels and are suited to shared moorings.
The new technologies for mooring lines and anchors will allow smaller and lighter station-keeping systems, manufactured and installed by a wider supply chain. TAILWIND will distill the models into system optimisation tools, unlocking further floater optimisation and cost reduction. Finally, an integrated life cycle assessment will quantify the economic, social and environmental impact of TAILWIND’s technologies.
TAILWIND unites a diverse consortium of 12 organisations from 8 European countries, located across the emerging FOW development regions, and spanning academia, consulting, construction and manufacturing.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

TAILWIND started with the WP1 partners defining the scenarios and running the coupled simulations that provide a solid basis for both anchors and mooring lines testing. WP2 has done an excellent job at defining relevant testing scenarios and ensuring they are compatible with time and material availability. They then started testing fibre ropes in the beginning of 2025. The WP3 partners have articulated the sustainable-by-design concept and targeted anchoring systems to be advanced. WP4 has started with some preliminary optimisation work and has gained full swing in the first months of 2025. WP5 and WP1 have delivered their first selection of sustainability indicators while have started working on the floating offshore wind impact on local supply chains. The indispensable support of our exploitation, communication and dissemination experts in WP6 underpinned all these activities.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Result 1:
Deliverable 1.1 is related to the scenarios definition, including location, floater and mooring configurations, as well as the estimation of loads expected for mooring lines and anchors in selected scenarios.
These loads in mooring lines and anchors are required for the research activity being developed in other project activities, WP2 ‘Mooring line technology’ working on the mechanical characterisation of fibre ropes used in the mooring lines, and WP3 ‘Anchor technology’ working on anchors and soil behaviour for anchoring design.
Maximum loads have been estimated for two different sites, three floater concepts and several mooring configurations for a set of load cases, mainly maximum thrust and extreme environmental conditions. For each configuration the floater and mooring design used correspond to a preliminary design based on basic requirements given and will undergo optimisation in a later phase of TAILWIND project. Yet loads estimation at this stage provide useful inputs for already running WP2/WP3 activities.

Result 2:
The ambitious goal of the project is to introduce novel frameworks in line with the sustainable-by-design principle, which involves integrating economic, societal, and environmental considerations into design methods and technology selection processes. Deliverable 3.1 marks the first steps in the project, focusing on the identification of anchoring technologies for future development based on reference station-keeping systems. The anchoring system analysis comprises two key stages: Technical Reliability and Industrial Feasibility. In the Technical Reliability stage, the loads from the platform analyses are used to size state-of-the-art anchor types, including suction piles, driven piles, drag anchors, plate anchors, and gravity anchors. Industrial Feasibility involves the assessment of material sustainability, fabrication and transportation capacities, installation efficiency, decommissioning, and recyclability. The study results in the identification of promising anchor technologies for further development via experimental testing and numerical modelling within the TAILWIND project. The outcome amplifies the potential to unlock efficiencies and increase geotechnical reliability of infrastructure design.

Result 3:
Deliverable 1.2 and 5.1 cover technical, financial, social, and environmental KPIs, by providing a shortlist of such KPIs to be considered for sustainability impact assessment for the development of Floating Offshore Wind (FOW) renewable energy infrastructure.

Project overview